Supercar Showdown: developer interview

You may have already seen glimpses of our up coming racing game, Supercar Showdown. As the game nears release, we spoke to Andy Wiltshire of BulletProof Arcade, the small team behind the top-down racer, to get the inside story of the development.

In your own words, what is Supercar Showdown?

Supercar Showdown is a top-down arcade racer with a focus on controlled drifting. We’ve done our best to make the game as fun to play and as polished as possible. It’s got a unique take on upgrading your vehicle, a bunch of awesome supercars to unlock and drive, big explosions and a massive bunch of tracks to play through. We can’t wait for players to finally get their hands on it.

Tell us about the multiplayer!

Players always want to face off against their friends, and the best way to make that easy for everyone was asynchronous multiplayer. This means that, as you play, your track times and stats are recorded and a ghost of you is made that others can play against. You can race your friends at any time, whether they are online or not. You can also rank up and play better and better online opponents as your skill grows.

Which games inspired you?

We’re all quite old school gamers who grew up with arcade games and home computers – my first machine was a BBC Micro. So we’ve been inspired by loads of old, top-down racing games, such as Micro Machines, Skidmarks and Roadkill. Then again, Hot Wheels we’re definitely a large inspiration too, and we also drew on the experience of our previously released games when developing Supercar Showdown.

Do you feel top-down racing is a genre that has been under-represented recently?

Not necessarily under-represented, but obviously most racing games these days will be in 3D, camera behind the car type of games. It’s nice to go back to a more classic style and really try to refine and perfect it. Also, the fact there haven’t been tons of good 2D racers means we can more easily bring something fresh to the genre.

What games have you made before?

We’ve individually been making games for years, but BulletProof Arcade was formed about 5 years ago. Since then we’ve made a bunch of web games, many of which can be played on Miniclip. Our best known Miniclip game is probably Mini Soccer, which just received a large update! We have a history of racing games, from Monster Stunts and Smash Palace to Full Auto Mayhem and now, Supercar Showdown.

Which method of control do you prefer – mouse or keys?

Supercar Showdown lets you race with either the mouse or key controls. All our old games use traditional key controls, but with this one we experimented with mouse controls and I’ve found I much prefer it. It feels much smoother when steering your car, and you can really flick the back of the car out on power slides and drift your way around corners. Of course, keys work fine too, but I’d urge players to give mouse controls a go and see just how cool it feels.

What do you hope people get out of Supercar Showdown?

I hope players appreciate just how much work we’ve put into making the game as polished and enjoyable as possible. The most important part of any racing game is the controls, making sure everything is as tight as possible, and I feel we’ve done a great job there. Otherwise, I just want players to enjoy the game, and I can’t wait to start seeing people laying down great track times and challenging each other in multiplayer!

Supercar Showdown is coming very soon to Miniclip.com. Check out the teaser trailer below! Also, if you participated in the contest to get your name in the game, check out the results here!